Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Chris Doleman, left, with former Vikings player and Hall of Famer Bud Grant at a press conference in Eden Prairie, Minn., on Thursday, February 9, 2012
(Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

On Jan. 22, Vikings hall of fame defensive end Chris Doleman was playing golf near his Atlanta-area home and looking forward to returning to the Twin Cities the following week to attend the Super Bowl.

Soon, his entire life changed.

Doleman had a runny nose that day on the golf course and there was some drippage coming out of the left side of his mouth. He thought if might just be hay fever when he went to the doctor to get it checked out.

His condition was far worse than Doleman, 56, could have imagined.

“When a doctor tells you that you have brain cancer, it changes your whole world,” Doleman said in a phone interview Monday with the Pioneer Press from his Suwanee, Ga., home. “Those are the scariest words that you’ll ever hear in your life. When I first heard it, I was so devastated by it I couldn’t get any words out of my mouth.”

Doleman was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the same cancer Arizona Sen. John McCain has. He had surgery on Jan. 25 to remove a tumor. During the procedure, two additional tumors were found, and they are now being treated by radiation. He also is undergoing chemotherapy.

Doleman spent five weeks in the hospital, and lost 40 pounds, dropping to 232. He was released Feb. 26, and has now gained back 20 pounds. He had numbness on the left side of his body following the surgery and couldn’t walk but is now back on his feet.

“I feel great, man,” Doleman said. “God has blessed me for the last month just waking up every day, one day at a time. That’s how I look at it.

“We’re working on (the cancer) on a daily basis. It can heal, and it can come back. I ask Vikings fans to pray for me on a daily basis. Just one day at a time.”

Doleman played in the NFL from 1985-99, including stints with the Vikings from 1985-93 and in 1999. Doleman, who also played for Atlanta and San Francisco and is fifth in NFL career sacks with 150½, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Doleman said he has received support from Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilk and CEO Kevin Warren. He said former Vikings players Greg Coleman, Steve Jordan, Henry Thomas and Ken Clarke visited him in the hospital.

“If you got this kind of cancer 10 years ago, there was no recourse for you,” Doleman said. “It was a closed story. … The (doctors) thought (the surgery) was successful. But it’s been a grind. I have spent a lot of time sleeping. That’s the only time that your brain can really heal.”

Over the past month, Doleman has been feeling better day by day while undergoing physical therapy. He has played golf three times since his surgery, including recently going to Tampa, Fla., to play nine holes.

“He’s doing good,” said Doleman’s girlfriend and caretaker, LaTresa Cunningham. “His energy is improving. He’s getting more strength. After surgery, he really couldn’t move. He wasn’t able to move his left leg or left arm and he couldn’t wiggle his left fingers or his left toes.

“But he’s learned how to stand and walk again and all of that. He’s come a long way since his surgery.”

Doleman had experienced no signs of a problem until he was playing golf on Jan. 22.

“I just had a runny nose and something was coming out of the corner of my mouth that was a little bit sour,” he said. “It wasn’t like I had headaches or I felt terrible or had lack of energy. Then I go to the doctor and I find out I have three masses on the right side of my brain. One day you’re playing golf and the next day they tell you have brain cancer.”

Doleman underwent surgery at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and then spent the bulk of his five weeks hospitalized at Cancer Treatment Centers of America outside Atlanta. He said the treatment he has received has been excellent.

Doleman said the costs have been “very expensive, needless to say.” He said the surgery was $250,000, and he is hopeful it will be covered by his insurance.

Chris joined the Pioneer Press in 2013 to cover the Vikings. He was a longtime NBA writer with the Akron Beacon Journal, Rocky Mountain News and AOL FanHouse. Before coming to Minnesota, he covered the Miami Heat and Dolphins for Fox Sports. Chris has won six awards in the past three Pro Football Writers of America contests. Chris is a graduate of Northwestern University, where he spent his college years watching the losingest team in the history of Division I-A football.

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